Overall
- Idaho Falls
- 94.4
Diff -0.3 RPP
Idaho Falls vs Lake Havasu City-Kingman
Cost of living comparison based on BEA Regional Price Parities. Lake Havasu City-Kingman is 0.3% less expensive than Idaho Falls.
0.3% less expensive
Lake Havasu City-Kingman, AZ is 0.3% less expensive than Idaho Falls, ID on BEA Regional Price Parities (overall RPP 94.1 vs 94.4). A $100,000 salary in Idaho Falls buys about the same as $99,667 in Lake Havasu City-Kingman; the largest component gap is services.
- Overall RPP 94.4 (Idaho Falls) vs 94.1 (Lake Havasu City-Kingman)
- $100k in Idaho Falls ≈ $99,667 purchasing power in Lake Havasu City-Kingman
- Services drives the gap (+19.1 RPP points)
RPP parity plate
Pair ID:AZ 94.4→94.1
PHOTO-FINISH · CROSS-STATE · SPLIT-BUDGET · BOTH-BELOW · PP-PAR
- PHOTO-FINISH Photo finish
- CROSS-STATE ID × AZ
- SPLIT-BUDGET Split budget
- BOTH-BELOW Both below 100
- PP-PAR PP near-par
Instrument codes from this pair's BEA Regional Price Parities (overall · goods · services · rents · national benchmark 100 · purchasing-power conversion), not a ranking or recommendation.
Idaho Falls
94.4
Cost Index
Lake Havasu City-Kingman
94.1
Cost Index
What This Comparison Actually Tells You
Idaho Falls, ID and Lake Havasu City-Kingman, AZ are a photo finish on overall price level, only 0.3 RPP points apart. A salary conversion is therefore a fine adjustment, not evidence of a fundamentally different cost regime.
Services creates the largest separation: Lake Havasu City-Kingman is 19.1 points higher. But services and goods move against the overall direction, so this is a split budget rather than a clean across-the-board winner.
Comparable population context is incomplete for this pair, so no market-scale explanation is inferred from the price indexes.
Both metros remain below the U.S. benchmark of 100. This comparison chooses between two below-average price levels; “more expensive” here does not mean nationally expensive.
For a service-heavy household, test childcare, health, and other locally supplied costs before relying on rent alone. The BEA ratio converts $100,000 in Idaho Falls to $99,667 in Lake Havasu City-Kingman, but it is not a personal spending weight.
Category Breakdown
Goods
- Idaho Falls
- 96.2
Diff +0.1 RPP
Services
- Idaho Falls
- 69.7
Diff +19.1 RPP
Rents
- Idaho Falls
- 84.0
Diff -4.2 RPP
| Category | Idaho Falls | Lake Havasu City-Kingman | Difference |
|---|---|---|---|
| Overall | 94.4 | 94.1 | -0.3 |
| Goods | 96.2 | 96.2 | +0.1 |
| Services | 69.7 | 88.7 | +19.1 |
| Rents | 84.0 | 79.8 | -4.2 |
Visual Comparison
Overall
Idaho Falls 94.4
Lake Havasu City-Kingman 94.1
Goods
Idaho Falls 96.2
Lake Havasu City-Kingman 96.2
Services
Idaho Falls 69.7
Lake Havasu City-Kingman 88.7
Rents
Idaho Falls 84.0
Lake Havasu City-Kingman 79.8
Vertical line = national average (100)
How the Price Gap Changed
Idaho Falls and Lake Havasu City-Kingman share 17 published annual releases from 2008 through 2024. Their overall gap narrowed, moving from 1.4 to 0.3 RPP points. Idaho Falls remained the higher-index metro in the latest release.
Rents changed the most within this pair: its gap moved 11.8 points between the first and latest shared releases (7.6 to 4.2 points). This describes a relative price-index history, not a forecast or a household budget.
| Release Year | Idaho Falls RPP | Lake Havasu City-Kingman RPP | Relative Gap |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2008 | 95.2 | 93.8 | 1.4 points Idaho Falls higher |
| 2012 | 93.2 | 95.5 | 2.3 points Lake Havasu City-Kingman higher |
| 2016 | 95.4 | 93.0 | 2.5 points Idaho Falls higher |
| 2020 | 90.9 | 87.7 | 3.3 points Idaho Falls higher |
| 2024 | 94.4 | 94.1 | 0.3 points Idaho Falls higher |
Annual BEA Regional Price Parity releases; a higher index means a higher price level relative to the national average of 100. Selected years shown from the full shared series.
Salary Equivalents
What a salary in Idaho Falls would need to be in Lake Havasu City-Kingman for the same purchasing power:
| In Idaho Falls | In Lake Havasu City-Kingman | Difference |
|---|---|---|
| $50,000 | $49,834 | $-166 |
| $75,000 | $74,751 | $-249 |
| $100,000 | $99,667 | $-333 |
| $150,000 | $149,501 | $-499 |
$ in Idaho Falls = in Lake Havasu City-Kingman
Same BEA Regional Price Parity ratio as the table above (94.4 → 94.1), computed live from your number, nothing is sent anywhere.
Frequently Asked Questions
Is Lake Havasu City-Kingman more expensive than Idaho Falls?
Lake Havasu City-Kingman is 0.3% less expensive than Idaho Falls. The overall cost index is 94.1 vs 94.4 (national average = 100).
What salary in Lake Havasu City-Kingman equals $100K in Idaho Falls?
A $100,000 salary in Idaho Falls has the same purchasing power as $99,667 in Lake Havasu City-Kingman. This is based on the BEA Regional Price Parity indexes.
How do rents compare between Idaho Falls and Lake Havasu City-Kingman?
Rents in Idaho Falls are indexed at 84.0 while Lake Havasu City-Kingman is at 79.8 (national average = 100). Idaho Falls has higher rents.
Data sources
- BEA Regional Price Parities (RPP), the cost-of-living indices shown on this page
- U.S. Census Bureau, American Community Survey (ACS), gross-rent observations behind the rents component
- BLS Consumer Price Index (CPI), goods and services price relatives
- BLS Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics (OEWS), labor-driven services component
- HUD Fair Market Rents (FMR), 40th-percentile rent cross-reference
Every figure on PlainCost is rendered directly from BEA Regional Price Parity source data, no number is typed in by an editor. See our editorial standards & corrections policy, the methodology behind these numbers, our changelog, or report a data error. Data current as of 2026-08-11. Rankings measure the published cost-of-living index only; we don't recommend where to live or rate any metro's quality of life.